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Home » Melt-in Your Mouth Lemon Cookies

Melt-in Your Mouth Lemon Cookies

July 20, 2016 Sam 11 Comments

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Made with cream cheese (and no eggs), these lemon cookies are the softest cookies I’ve made to-date.  Melt-in your mouth and flavored with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest (not artificial extract), they’re slightly tart, rolled in sugar, and utterly irresistible.   

Melt in your mouth lemon cookies -- via SugarSpunRun

Let’s talk, for a moment, about lemons.  About the difference between the flavor of a real, bumpy-skinned, straight-off-the-branches (or, in my case, straight out of the grocery store bin) lemon and artificial lemon flavoring.  It’s all the difference between the snazzy taste of tartly embodied sunshine gently, delightfully, shocking your taste-buds (my taste buds are puckering just thinking about it), and that of a fancily bottled bathroom-cleaning agent with an extract label slapped on the front.

When it comes to lemon flavoring, I do discriminate.

Melt in your mouth lemon cookies -- via SugarSpunRun

Full disclosure: I’m sure I’ve used lemon extract on this space at least once before, and I’m sure that I’ll use it again.  Hypocrite? Perhaps. But I promise that I use lemon extract only in situations where it’s appropriate, where the flavoring is subtle and where lemon isn’t the key shining flavor in the recipe (I don’t want to put you through all that hard zesting and lemon-squeezing work for nothing… trust me I’m all about shortcuts).

But for these cookies, real lemon is absolutely key.

Melt in your mouth lemon cookies -- via SugarSpunRun

Made with cornstarch and cream cheese (and, of course, butter) they are truly the softest cookies I believe I’ve ever made.  They’re easy, too; zesting the lemon is the hardest part, and maybe that’s just because it always feels like an arm workout and when my arm is tired after 3 seconds I’m reminded of how bitterly out of shape I am (no time to go to the gym when there are cookies to be made).

There’s no egg in this cookie dough, so I might strongly suggest that you sample** the dough and flavor it to your tastes if you are a huge lemon-fanatic.  I made these cookies 7 (billion?) times and worked out the precise amount of lemon juice (please don’t increase the lemon juice, it’ll make your cookies flat), but you have a little bit of leeway with the lemon zest that goes into it. I recommend using two level, un-mushed tablespoons, and then add up to a third tablespoon if you really have a craving for tartness.

Melt in your mouth lemon cookies -- via SugarSpunRun

Enjoy!

**Please always consume raw cookie dough at your own risk — I have heard that there are links of raw flour to E. Coli

 

3.67 from 3 votes
Print

Melt-in Your Mouth Lemon Cookies

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 11 minutes
Total Time 41 minutes
Servings 3 dozen

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature, 1 stick
  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 2-3 Tbsp lemon zest
  • 2 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 Tbsp corn starch
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup sugar -- for rolling

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl with stand mixer (or using an electric hand-mixer) cream together cream cheese and butter until well-combined.
  2. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
  3. Stir in vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest and beat briefly on high-speed until well-combined (pause to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl).
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, corn starch and salt.
  5. With mixer on low-medium speed, gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Pause occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl.
  6. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour to chill.
  7. Before removing dough from refrigerator, preheat oven to 350F.
  8. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and roll cookie dough into 1 1/2 Tbsp-sized balls
  9. Roll in additional sugar, place on parchment paper and slightly press down.
  10. Bake cookies on 350F for 11 minutes -- cookies will still be very soft and bottoms will be just barely golden brown. Allow to cool completely on sheet before removing.

You May Also Like:

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Snickerdoodle Cookies

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Comments

  1. Sues says

    July 20, 2016 at 11:32 am

    I discriminate, too! There’s nothing quite like a freshly squeezed lemon… I’m partial to limes, too 🙂 These cookies look so soft and awesome!

    Reply
    • Sam says

      July 20, 2016 at 1:37 pm

      Right though!? Thank you, Sues!!

      Reply
  2. Medha @ Whisk & Shout says

    July 20, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    These cookies look so buttery and delicious! love the fresh lemon 🙂

    Reply
    • Sam says

      July 20, 2016 at 1:36 pm

      Thank you, Medha! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Hira says

    July 20, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    I LOVE lemon anything, so this is perfect for me! I love that I have all the ingredients in my house… must be a sign. 😉 Thanks for another great recipe, Sam!

    Reply
  4. Olivia @ Olivia's Cuisine says

    July 22, 2016 at 11:13 pm

    Definitely my kind of cookies! I could go for a batch right this second!

    Reply
    • Sam says

      July 22, 2016 at 11:14 pm

      Thanks, Olivia! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Suzanne says

    July 29, 2016 at 8:35 pm

    So delicious! I was even lazy on the amount of zest and didn’t wait the whole hour. Another great recipe!

    Reply
    • Sam says

      July 29, 2016 at 10:28 pm

      I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Suzanne! Thank you for commenting! 🙂 🙂
      Have a great weekend!

      Reply
  6. deborah says

    March 4, 2018 at 3:33 am

    after making your ‘worst chocolate chip cookies’ and snickerdoodles multiple times in the past and getting dozens of compliments on them, i decided to branch out of my comfort zone of chocolate and cinnamon and try your lemon cookies, thinking that they would be just as amazing. unfortunately, i was wrong. these cookies turned out doughy, unflavorful and just did not taste (or look) good. i measured out everything correctly, used fresh ingredients, baked them for the correct amount of time and yet these cookies were just a hard pass. even though i slightly pressed them down before baking they still looked almost exactly the same as when i had put them in; nothing like the pictures, and even though i cooled the cookies completely on the pan they still had an unpleasant doughiness in the middle and left a strange metallic aftertaste, ruining the whole experience. honestly i’m a bit disappointed, but i’ll be on the lookout for a better lemon recipe to try in the future and just continue making those chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles.

    Reply
    • Sam says

      March 4, 2018 at 10:28 pm

      Oh no, I’m so disappointed to hear that! They are a thick cookie that doesn’t spread much but I’ve always enjoyed them as has my family and am disappointed to hear that you didn’t!

      Reply

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Samantha Gebhart Hi, I'm Sam! I'm dedicated to bringing you tried and true dessert recipes that you can make easily from scratch. My life may or may not be controlled by my sweet tooth. Send help (or chocolate). Read more about me.

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